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Her ‘interest’ is a little more than $2.50. It is not a vast amount but several hours of work for a 19 year old. If they make her pay it I will be sending lots of letters. Would I bother for $2.50? hmmmm. It is the principal of the thing but…</p>
<p>So. I just got a letter from the IRS telling me that my stimulus check is on its way. Unfortunately, the dependent, a “qualifying child” that was kicked of my return because the IRS entered his SS# wrong in their computer (which was corrected almost 2 months ago) is not included in the calculations for my check. </p>
<p>I call the IRS, spend 45 minutes on hold, just to hear some incredibly rude and aggressive rep tell me that it is all the fault of Congress because the law says that if your original tax return had an error (which mine did NOT–the error was made by the IRS) you don’t get the $, but you may be able to take a deduction on your 2008 taxes. She told me all kinds of contradictory and illogical BS–like, “Well, we’re human. We make mistakes.” “This is a computer program. We have no way of correcting a mistake once it is entered.” (But they were able to correct the same mistake a couple months ago. . .) This is accounting. Simply add $300 to my check. "But Congress won’t allow us to correct our mistakes; Congress makes the laws. . ."She kept trying to blame the mistake on me. My son’s SS# was correct on my original paper return–I have copies to prove it. I suppose I should call my congressman now? ;)</p>
<p>Ahhhh, the joys of dealing with the IRS! In my past life, I was a tax attorney and dealing with the IRS made my bood pressure sky rocket! One especially egregious interaction (wasting my time, and my client’s money, over a two day period because their computers were “down”) made me especially angry. I told the person in charge of the IRS office I was dealing with that if that’s how they treat everyone (they do!) it’s a wonder more people don’t come into their office with an uzi! (I wasn’t entirely joking!) Luckily, this was long before 9/11 and I was not hauled off to Guantanamo!!</p>
<p>I have no good advice other than document everything and every name you deal with. And the suggestion you contact your congresspeople is NOT a bad idea. They get action!</p>
<p>I guess I have been very lucky in my dealings with the IRS. I am knocking on wood as I type. I have never encountered a rude person there or one who didn’t try to help.</p>
<p>I’m surprised. I’ve had more than my share of interactions with the IRS and I’ve found their personnel to be uniformly pleasant and helpful.</p>
<p>I agree about the outdated technology, though.</p>
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Yes. And tell him that as the IRS told you that congress will not allow them to correct their mistakes you would like him to find a way to allow it. I wonder if my daughter will get hers as her return has had to be corrected due to the IRS somehow entering an income more than 10 times her actual income. (which was not what was shown on her return).</p>
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I did not find the one I spoke to unpleasant - just a bit clueless. i remember wondering if they take on a whole bunch of temps during their busy period that perhaps aren’tt particularly well trained in dealing with any problems that are out of the ordinary.</p>
<p>Update - well here we are another month later. Wrote and posted a letter a month ago with copies of tax returns and previous letters and copies of all documentation from the IRS and the original check that was sent by the IRS. Sent it certified and got a receipt. </p>
<p>And today she got …ta da … drum roll … a letter saying she owes the whole amount plus an additional penalty for not paying it on time! Are these people just stupid?</p>
<p>It is so incredibly frustrating. They made a big screw up by sending her thousands of dollars which were not hers - she did not cash the check and has returned it and they are saying she owes the amount of the check plus penalties and interest. Even once we get this all sorted out it is costing money with mailing multiple copies of everything and never even getting an acknowledgement of the letters - this has been going on now for months. I guess we will have to drive to the nearest IRS office which is over 100 miles away. Don’t suppose they will refund all these expenses which will amount to more than the actual tax refund she should have received in the first place.</p>
<p>A suggestion. There is an office in the IRS called the Ombudsman. Several years ago my wife’s firm got a notice of wage garnishment for some ridiculous mistake, and an IRS lawyer gave me the telephone number for the Ombudsman. This person can quickly and pleasantly sort out these kinds of problems. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you how to find or contact one of these people, but I’d give it a try.</p>
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</p>
<p>[The</a> National Taxpayer Advocate](<a href=“Find Your Page | The New York State Society of CPAs”>Find Your Page | The New York State Society of CPAs)
[Taxpayer</a> Advocate Service](<a href=“http://www.irs.gov/advocate/index.html]Taxpayer”>http://www.irs.gov/advocate/index.html)</p>
<p>Thanks. I had already called the taxpayer advocate office today after my CC vent (I needed to vent to calm myself down before I could actually physically talk to anyone on the phone :mad:) and they were helpful. Said under the IRS system it would take @45 days for the returned check to be updated in the system and reflected on her account. If after a month we have not heard back or if we get another notice she said to fax the info to her with a power of attorney form so they can talk to me (rather than my poor 19 year old daughter who will never have any trust in the IRS after this experience). I got the impression this is not at all uncommon. She did say we did the right thing in not cashing the check as the interest and penalties should be removed.</p>
<p>Absolutely get in touch with an Advocate. I had an issue drag on for 2 years and the advocate was able to clear it up in a week.</p>
<p>“I guess I have been very lucky in my dealings with the IRS. … I have never encountered a rude person there or one who didn’t try to help.”</p>
<p>Cartera45 - Some IRS manager has apparently STOLEN your CC account in order to post misleading information about the agency!</p>
<p>The information the IRS gave you is consistent with my experience. You did the right thing and all will be corrected all in due time. Take notes of who you talked to and their ID number. Refer to your prior conversation date and agent in each subsequent conversation as they have customer notes on the screen and that usually helps. Most of the time the people you talk to are just like you regular people and not accountants, tax experts or CPA’s. The later are assigned to IRS audits.</p>
<p>NewHope - they were never rude and they always tried to help, but every time I spoke to someone new, they recommended that I try something else so I never got anywhere. Finally, they assigned the advocate and everything was wrapped up very quickly. Both statements were true - imagine that you little investigative reporter you.</p>
<p>I wonder who, if anyone, even looks at the letters we have sent trying to sort this all out. Surely there is some supervisory level that has the training and knowledge to sort this out. The letters we sent laid everything out that has happened in very easy to follow and detailed steps. I have a pretty good understanding of numbers and tax rules and this is stressing me out. And i know they are completely in the wrong - I document everything so it should get sorted out eventually. Imagine how dreadful this experience must be for someone who does not understand these things and for young people (like my daughter) or elderly people when they are faced with such mindblowing incompetence and hae to worry about these demands for large amounts of money. It is scary for a 19 year old to get notices saying she owes thousands of dollars in taxes and penalties - poor kid didn’t even earn enough to pay any taxes!</p>
<p>They may be regular people but they do not even do us the courtesy of responding to our letters so that we can feel at least an attempt is being made to sort things out. I am thankful for the advocate service as it seems that is the only way this can be corrected. But it should not be necessary. This is just sheer incompetence .</p>
<p>It seems to take a very long time for things to be read and acted upon. When I sent things in, the person would diary the file and tell me to call back if I had not heard something in 6 weeks. I never heard anything and always had to call again. That person would do the same thing - that is how it went on for 2 years.</p>
<p>Good Lord. 2 years! We will send yet another letter in response to the latest notice. Will detail everything yet again with dates. Am going to try it in list form this time. My husband says we will be audited every year for the rest of our lives. Don’t want to mail the tax returns again as the postage is getting expensive.</p>
<p>After that we will be going the Advocate route then congressmen (though I think they just refer it to the Tax Advocates). </p>
<p>I am hoping this is sorted before it is time to file FAFSA. Probably being optimistic seeing as we seem to be going backwards rather than making progress.</p>
<p>I had more luck calling - the people I spoke to always took pity on me when they looked at the file and realized that it was all a big mistake. Finally, one of them said that it was ridiculous it hadn’t been taken care of and gave me the magic advocate referral.</p>
<p>There is a form that authorizes someone to speak to the IRS for you. I think it’s form 8821. I believe it serves the same purpose as checking the box on your return.</p>